Bulgarian government faces vote of no confidence and political unrest


Mr Petkovss four-party coalition took office six months ago, before disintegrating earlier this month over disagreements over budget spending and over whether Bulgaria should unblock the membership of North Macedonia the European Union.

The European Union country is now facing a new round of political turmoil and possibly its fourth national election since April 2021, putting millions of euros from EU recovery funds and its government plans at risk. adoption of the euro in 2024.

The standoff could also hamper Bulgaria’s efforts to secure stable natural gas supplies after Moscow cut gas supplies to the Balkan country – almost entirely dependent on Russian gas – due to Sofia’s refusal to pay in rubles. .

Speaking during a no-confidence debate in parliament on Tuesday, Petkov called on lawmakers to support his cabinet amid war in Ukraine and spiraling inflation.

“This government will not allow Bulgarian taxpayers to be robbed,” Mr Petkov said. “You have to decide – you have a real chance of pushing the country into a political crisis in due course.”

Petkov, a 42-year-old Harvard graduate, took a strongly pro-European and pro-NATO stance, an unusual stance for a country with a traditionally friendly stance toward Russia.

Mr Petkov sacked his defense minister in February for refusing to call the Russian invasion of Ukraine a “war”, supported EU sanctions against Moscow and agreed to repair heavy military machinery in the country. Ukraine, while refraining from sending kyiv weapons.

Former coalition partner ITN left the government after accusing Mr Petkov of disregarding Bulgaria’s interests by pushing to lift his veto on North Macedonia’s EU accession talks, under pressure from its EU and NATO allies.

Mr Petkov argued that any decision on the veto would be subject to a vote in parliament and accused the leadership of the populist ITN party of deliberately obstructing the cabinet’s anti-corruption agenda.

So far, six ITN MPs have defected and pledged their support for Petkov and his drive to tackle corruption, but the government is still six votes out of an absolute majority of 121 votes.

Analysts predict a new round of turbulence for the coming months.

“Even if the government survives the vote, it could hardly secure long-term stable support,” said Dobromir Zhivkov, a political analyst at the Market Links pollster. “An early election is all on the table.”

The motion against the ruling coalition was proposed by former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s opposition GERB party.

Annual inflation hit its highest level in 24 years in May, 15.6%. Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said the rise was mainly due to high energy and food prices caused by the war in Ukraine.

New polls are likely to benefit Borissov’s GERB party as well as pro-Russian parties like the nationalist Revival, as economic woes and the war in Ukraine polarize society.



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